"Equus," Long Beach Playhouse Studio Theatre

A troubled teenager, Alan Strang (Andrew Nowak), blinds three horses in a stable. A prosecutor, Hesther Salomon (Stephanie Schulz), plea-bargains treatment for jail time by calling in a favor with a child psychologist, Martin Dysart (Noah Wagner). At the end, both men undergo a catharsis. For the patient, presumably, it's a breakthrough. For the doctor, we're not so sure. Structured like a detective story whose chiseled motives form pieces of a very disturbing puzzle, Peter Shaffer's "Equus," di...